1. I noticed that P Brandon Knight came in and saved Nelson Figueroa’s victory Thursday night. This will make room for Lance Broadway, who threw that complete game gem earlier this week.
Right now, the Herd rotation stands at Jon Niese, Figueroa, Ken Takahashi, Tobi Stoner, and Broadway.
2. Two more of this year’s draft picks, 3B Josh Dunn (25th round) and C Cam Maron (34th round) played today for the GCL (10-0 winners) Mets. It will be interesting to seeif Maron is a one time thing or if Nefli Zapata is moving on the K-Port.
3. Another young pitcher we need to keep an eye on is 19-yr. old Yohan Almonte, who pitched his fourth start of the season today: 6.0-IP, 0-R, 10-K, 0.66 ERA. Almonte went 3-3, 2.95 last year for the DSL Mets. Don’t get excited yet… remember how many of these burn off at the lower levels… but, we’ll add him to the preemies list and keep an eye on him.
4. 1B Nick Evans was sent down to Buffalo to make room for OF Angel Pagan, who should calm down things defensively for the Mets in July. Pagan is trying to match Fernando Martinez for the most times on the Mets DL, but my money is on F-Mart. (Then, he wasn’t sent down due to the departure of Church… look for Evans to once again be farmed out tomorrow when Frenchie arrives).
5. Wow. The Frenchie-Church trade just came through. My first thoughts are I like it for the clarity. The Mets now have a 25-year old, ex-first rounder, ex-SI cover wiz kid, in their outfield for, 10+ years if they want him. The bad side… it wouldn’t hurt if he remembered how to hit. Excellent defensive outfielder. Nice person. Church; however, did not win nice guy of the year in the clubhouse and he and Jerry Manuel were not on the same page. Will help clubhouse chemistry immediately.
6. The Francoeur trade does change everything in the off-season. First of all, you now have a Fernando Martinez-Carlos Beltran-Jeff Francoeur starting outfield through the 2011 season. Prospect wise, there is currently absolutely no one in the pipeline that will play professional baseball in the outfield for the Mets, or anyone else. Players like Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Sean Ratliff, Cesar Puello, and Breiner Soto have potential, but I have potential to someday bed down Cameron Diaz. What the trade does do is solve the question: who will play RF for the Mets starting in 2010. This leaves them with critical questions in only three areas now, SP2, 1B, and C. Let’s assume two of them are dealt with in the off-season in the free agent market. Add to that a healthy Beltran, Reyes, and Maine…
7. I did some adjusting to where I rank Mets prospects in my weekly report that goes on-line tomorrow. One of the added full-prospects is SP Brandon Moore, who pitched exceptionally again on Friday night. I list him now in the “2012 Crop”, along with Jeurys Familia, who frankly, may be his direct competition for an SP slot some day. Moore pitched the first game of a doubleheader and was, once again, unhittable.
8. The DSL Mets won 11-6, over the Cubs2 team. “Preemie” SP German Gonzalez went to 5-0, pitching: 5.0-IP, 1-ER, 6-K, 0-BB…
9. No roster moves today, other than the trade.
10. What’s next. Omar Minaya hinted tonight that there is more to come. Let’s see, players that could get some return would be Brian Schneider, Nick Evans, Pedro Feliciano, and Daniel Murphy.
Right now, the “fixed” 2010 lineup is:
1B: open
2B: Castillo
SS: Reyes
3B: Wright
LF: Martinez
CF: Beltran
RF: Francoeur
C: open
SP: Santana, open, Pelfrey, Maine, Niese
RP: Rodriquez, Parnell
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